Breathing Copper (HELPtale)
by bloody-hooves
Summary: You've fallen into the Underground. Again. Why? Just so you can fulfill your pleasures of making friends with everyone... or killing everyone, as you've already done thousands of times. Making everyone miserable, just so you can fall in love with your favorite character, or perhaps for... different reasons. But this time... something's changed. Credit to kaseenya for cover image.
1. volume NO

You've come here before…

But something changed.

Changed.

Changed.

Changed.

Changed.

Changed.

Changed.

Changed.

Changed.

Changed.

Maybe it would have been better if the flowers hadn't been there to break your fall.

You slowly pushed yourself up, the flowers underneath your hands itching your hands and bare feet. You glanced around at your surroundings. You had fallen through a hole with sunlight filtering through. It was high enough to snap your neck. Maybe that's why you came down here.

You pressed a hand to your face, running a finger through your hair, trying to wrap your mind around this. But as you did so, you noticed something strange… you didn't have a face.

Panicking, you pressed a finger into the spot where the creases of your eyes would normally be. There was skin covering that spot, smooth and cold. Your fingers dug into your head, tugging at it, pressing it, trying to wrench open a mouth. You kept pulling, nearly to the point of drawing blood. You tried to scream, tightening your vocal cords, but no sound came out. With shaking legs, you stood up, staring into the blackness that greeted you. Everything was deathly silent, except for a screeching ringing in your ears. You dragged yourself forward out of the light, the dark swallowing you wholly, leaving you with nothing but yourself. The tunnel was humid and wet, hot air swarmed the nostrils you didn't have. Holding a hand over your eyes from the damp air, you walked onward, hoping for a light source.

Your bare feet slid over something wet in the dark hallway, along with squishy lumps. You shivered as your feet slid over this meaty substance, and pressed onward. You saw a wink of light in the distance, so with a quick burst of speed you ran to it. You reached the end of the tunnel with a deep breath, but immediately wished you hadn't as the fiery smell of rotting flesh invaded your lungs, making you burst into a chorus of spasmodic coughs.

The light was coming from another hole from the rocky ceiling, which you now noticed had pieces of pumping machinery in it, along with long lines of cracking wire, and the constant whirr of machinery.

Light spilled down onto a patch of glimmering, wet grass, in the middle sat a trembling flower. It's petals had been torn and eaten at, parts of its stem and face had splotches of white liquid stained on it, along with bloodstains. Its mouth was scarred and deformed, it was ripped all the way up to it's cheek, where blood steadily dripped out of it's mouth. It also had one, bulging eye with a tiny bloodshot pupil that stared around hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of what it was looking at. The other eye was tiny and shriveled. It's grotesque grin widened, and a stream of blood and sap dripping down it's face. It's mouth stretched to say something, but all that came out was a wet gurgling in the back of it's throat. You jumped back in fear, as the gurgling grew strained. The flower began to choke on it's own throat, then hacked out a bout of bloody, chunky, white vomit.

You stumbled backward in disgust, the flower shakily lifted it's head to look at you, vomit dripping down it's twisted mouth. It wrenched open it's mouth once more, and the flower formed a single, gurgling, wet word.

"Die."

Then it burrowed into the ground, leaving you with nothing. Your heart pounded in your throat. You composed yourself with shaking hands, fear coursing through your veins at what might happen afterwards. With bated breath you waited for some monster to pop up and scare you.

But nobody came.

You let your pent-up breath escape your lungs. You continued on, careful not to step in the puddle of bile seething on the floor. The door to the RUINS loomed ahead, a musty, cobweb coated hole, engraved with the monster's religious symbol- the Delta Rune, a sign of hope, protection, and determination.

There didn't seem to be much of those things here.

AN: So that was chapter one! How did you like it? Write your critiques in the comments below, please and thank you!


	2. please

You brushed your hand against the damp stone, wiping away a coat of dust built up over the years, unveiling dents and scratch marks in the stone, like hundreds of monsters had scratched, punched, and battered the stone, crawling over one another, sweat running down their necks and screaming roaring through the area while the fought against each other, trying to be free of their prison, trying desperately to get free…

You shook yourself out of the horrid thought and kept walking through the hallway, momentarily in darkness again. The wet feeling of flesh under your bare feet becomes more pronounced, as there are chunks of intestine, skin, limbs, and organs scattered everywhere, leaking with bodily fluids and blood. The very sight makes bile rise in your throat… but you have no mouth to propel it out of, making you choke. You try to cover your eyes, but lacking them, you cannot.

You reach an area lit only by a single, shining star in the dark. With a breath of relief, you run to it, relinquishing its warmth. A curious finger reached out and touched the star, it flickered for a short moment. Then it began to spasm wildly in a flash of glitchy golden light. You shrieked- or tried to, your vocal cords tightened- and leapt back, but in instant later it stopped. The sudden spasm of lights… filled you with [SWAP_ADJ].

Then the star's light vanished, dying out in a sputter of flame, abandoning you you more in darkness. You wiped the sweat off your face and walked up the stairs, into the next room.

As you walked, you noticed several deactivated puzzles around you, of which were broken, solved, or deactivated. All of them were covered in white slime. In fact, the substance was everywhere. Slathered on the walls, in puddles on the floor, glistening on cobwebs, everywhere.

Chills ran down your spine at the sight of it… and you didn't know why. The question tore at your mind like a pack of hungry wolves.

You turned corners, walked past puzzles, and walked and walked and walked until your legs shook with the effort.

You had started down a long hallway when you heard a wet gurgle. You froze in your tracks, looking around wildly. A small flame was lit at the very end of the hall, flickering as it stood. You squinted at it, making out a strange silhouette. It was clumping towards you, slimy, clammy feet thumping against the floor. You stood frozen in place, not wanting to move in fear of tripping on something. The figure moved closer, and another wet growl erupted from it's slimy throat. You heard something smack onto the stone floor. You took a tentative step backwards, but the growl stopped you. The tiny flame grew brighter, brighter, yet brighter, until it was close enough to you that you could make out the figure holding it.

It was a tall goat monster, with two, black, bulging eyes that rolled around in it's head. It was a pale white like candle max, and half of it's face was melted off it's body. It wore a long cloak splattered with now dry blood. It was holding a silver platter in its hands, which were trembling horribly. On the silver platter was a candle and a candle holder. Slime from its hands was dripping on the platter and onto the floor. It opened it's mouth- slime slid down it's neck- and it let out a deep gurgle. Slime from its throat bubbled up and was spat out it's mouth. You slowly began to back away. The thing cocked it head and gurgled again. Suddenly, it put the shaking platter in one hand, reaching out to you with the other. You looked down at it's palm, and noticed three eyes there, blinking up at you between its fingers. You leapt backward, pushing her hand away with a stifled shriek. It blinked at you, confused. You eyed its hand. You pondered the possibilities. There was a fair chance that if you continued on, there wouldn't be any friendly… things… in the RUINS. It might be your only chance of making it. You took a deep, rattling breath and grabbed it's hand. You shivered as the texture of the moist eyeballs ran over your hand. A wet growl erupted from it's throat. It gripped your hand firmly, slime running down your arm. It turned sharply and began to run down the hall, dragging you with it.


	3. CombatSimulation

The thing had an incredibly strong grip for being what it was, it firmly grasped your hand with an iron grip, slime running down it's fingers and dampening your hand. It ran down the cold, dark hall with great speed, guiding you swiftly through all the deactivated, sludge-coated puzzles, and hardly hesitated when it reached a spiked trap, merely swinging you left and right across a hidden path beneath the deadly spikes.

Suddenly, it stops, making you jerk forward. It lets go of your hand roughly, making a wet groaning noise. It jerked its head down towards you, slime bubbled up on its lips as a wet noise gurgled from it's throat. It's eyes sort of widened, it contorted it's face into some sort of melty emotion. It gurgled again, some of the slime dripped down onto your pale skin. It jerked its head down in a nod and turned around and walked away. You stared after it, absolutely bewildered and chilled. You took a gander around the area it had left you in. A short hallway with an arch over the middle end. Shambles of mixed and melted limbs with eyes stared at you from the corners of the room, what you assumed to be other monsters, crudely conjoined as Eldritch abominations.

Between the stone arch was a pile of rotting dead leaves, on the leaves was a pile of white sludge. But it was different from the creamy textured slime it left behind. This one had a weak presence to it, one you believed you could appeal to.

You approached the lump of white mush meekly, observing it carefully. You noticed tiny bits of metal and aluminum in the folds of its wet sludge. Meekly, you poked at the puddle with the edge of your shoe. It rippled a bit, but other than that, it didn't move.

A funny thought came to your head, an old memory of something someone had said to you once, stupid but witty at the same time. You remember giggling, and then the memory was gone, thrust back into the depths of your undiscovered mind.

You tried to say the thing out loud as the memory began to slip away, but all that came out was a muffled mumble. You glanced back down at the puddle, not expecting it to respond, but to your surprise, you noticed creamy bubbles beginning to form on the surface. Your heart jumped up a little. If it could respond to you, maybe it could be a friend. A companion. The only thing in this place that wasn't threatening you with death or just plain creepy. You tried the strange memory's language again, but more of it was gone and you had already forgotten most of it. It didn't respond this time. Your hopes sank a little.

Tentatively, you reached towards the puddle with your dusty, stained hand at stroked the puddle. It's surface was smooth and watery, and bits of it's surface peeled off onto your fingers like a fried egg.

You flinched backwards as it rumbled, before a creamy white liquid spewed from it, covering the mildew-covered walls, floor, and more importantly, you, with a chunky white fluid.

You removed your soggy arm from your face, wiping the fluid from your sweaty face, trying the mumble again, but it barely sounding like the words you remembered speaking at first. You looked again, noticing this time that it was trembling, ripples spreading across it's slimy surface. It was emitting soft gurgling noises that vaguely resembled a moaning cry.

"No. No. No. No. No. No. No." the puddle gurgled.

You brought to noise to your throat again t try to comfort the poor soul, and it seemed to quiet down a bit, it's loud cries warbling down to a moan. You reached your hand towards the puddle and ran our hand once again over it. It silenced completely, and merely emitted small gargling at it's center, ripples softly running across it's surface. You wsaited in the hollow dark, listening to the moaning of the RUINS for something to happen, something deep inside to spring.

But nobody came.

You would never go home.

Author's Note: Sorry about the delay! I was busy with school and I forgot about this fanfiction for a while. To respond about the reviews that have been nit-picking about some of the implications in this story, this is a inference to what the universe of HELP_tale is, not an exact copy of the canon. So things like Toriel are just my own ideas to add to it. In other words, this won't be 100 % canon.

Have a good day, and thanks for following Breathing Copper this long!


	4. 4444444444444444

[POST_BATTLE_STRING_BL]

Darkness mulled over the barren halls of the RUINS. You stumbled along blindly, holding your hands in front of you, feeling for empty air. The smell of rust and copper invaded your lungs, making you cough wretchedly. Slimy shambles of clumped, silent monsters stared at you from the walls, light gleaming off their begging, hopeless eyes. You thumped against grimy walls, flinched backwards when your hands scraped against the ancient, moldy brick.

You rounded a corner , and the musty air lightened some, giving way to a cool breath of openness. Light gleamed from a single lantern in the darkness, barely illuminating the cavern, which stretched up, light dancing off crystallized rock, into a dark oblivion. The light shone off a gnarled, dead tree in the center of the cavern, with chunks of bark torn clean off and termite holes borne into the moldy, rotted wood. The tree cast a thick shadow over the cavern, looking like extended hands clawing at the sky.

The lantern swung by a rusty, crooked nail hanging from the dug-in top of a doorway off an old house, carved out of the rock, coated by dead swathes of leaves. The lantern shone like a beacon towards safety, and when you squinted, you noticed unintelligible marks smeared on the house, the creamy liquid a dark shade of scarlet. Your best guess was that they were motioning to go inside. The house reeked of thick mold and mildew, clogging your non-existent nose with muggy heat and stinging stench.

But the most jarring part was the fluid, slathered everywhere. On the branches of the dead tree, the walls of the house, in puddles all over the stony floor, on the dead leaves surrounding the house.

You tugged self-consciously at the neck of your shirt, feeling the sweat sticking to your neck. You drew in a shaky breath, eyeing the lantern. You didn't want to go in, the whole place gave off an anxious vibe that made you squirm. You felt trapped in that cavern, wrapped in darkness. The house was the only place left to go.

You pressed a hand against your thumping heart, and started into the house.

Upon entering, the light melted behind you as you descended furthur and furthur into a mildewy hall of darkness. You felt the area under your feet change, dusty wooden planks littered across the dirt floor, cracked cement walls, creamy, dull paint peeling off in clumps off the walls, revealing the wooden palleted interior, with plushy fiberglass… in some areas, monstrous holes and blunt teeth marks lodged in the fiberglass.

The hall opened into a dark room, in worse condition than the hall. Ripped, scratched walls with flaking paint , and a thin, worn rug barely covering the lumpy, dirt wood plank floor.

A wet roar erupted somewhere in the house, and you froze, rooted to your place. Your knees began to shake as creaking echoed through the halls.

The squeaks of the house grew louder , until they were right behind you, hot, spittle-coated, breathing running down your neck. You turned to face the looming figure of mildew and smile. Its great lips parted in a disgusting mock of a grin, it's neck snapping to the side in affection. A low rumble of affection mumbled from it's throat, as its arms jerked to bring its hands together.

It continued on a series of rumbles, struggling to emit recognizable sounds, but you recognized a few words. "Home." "Child." "Humble." "Love." "You."

You froze as it suddenly bowed down, its massive head bearing towards you, so close you could see yourself reflected in its bulging, black eyes. Chunky slime ran down its body and neck. It suddenly pressed it's curled mouth against your forehead. Its mouth parted a bit, and a long tongue pushed against your stringy hair, tousling your mop of now sticky hair. You whimpered in fear as gunge drizzled down your face, sticking to your skin as it's clammy lips mulled over your head.

It dislodged it's lips from you with a wet _splop,_ rumbling something else, before it turned on a gooey, mashed heel and stomped away. You stood there, trembling, not wanting to move in fear of something dare happen.

You looked around wildly when a ruffle of noise screeched from a nearby wall. You leapt up on your feet and dashed down the hall, your bare feet scraping against the splintered, dusty wood planks as cold air rushed by you. You skidded to a stop as a cracked, dirty wall lay ahead of you. A dead end. You glanced back, but the room behind you had been swallowed by darkness. There was a door off to the side, chipped and frail, just barely hanging on a rusty hinge. You took slow, moaning steps inside, the darkness of the room consuming you whole. You felt around for a light switch, but your hand touched the thin fabric of a lampshade You trailed your hand down until it touched the rim, and then stuck it inside, and you fingered a hanging lamp switch. You tugged on it, and with a squeak, the light popped on. The dusty light shone dimly over a grey, monotone room, with cracked, chipping walls. There was furniture crammed in every corner- chairs, bins, dressers, framed pictures on the walls. A lone bed sat in the ruckus, peeling wood, a child-shaped husk in the middle of the squishy mattress. You could even make out a head and thin legs. A chill ran down your body to the marrow of your bones, thinking that there was another poor child who came down here.

You trudged your way through the mess, wincing as things scraped and squeaked horribly as they moved. You came to one of the bins, which was overflowing with children's shoes- all of them covered in slime- and dust. You picked one up- a flat, feeling the hard, rippled bottom under your hands, the peach-fuzz texture of the shoes.

Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, you tossed it back in, and it clunked back with the others.

You stood there blankly, in the heap of trash and oddities, staring into shadowed space.

You fell backwards, the bed cushioned your fall. You stared at the ceiling warily, watching shadows float across it.

Tomorrow was a new day.

AN: I'm so sorry I haven't been updating! I've been busy with schoolwork and my novel-to-be, When The Light Leaves Thee. I'll make sure to update more often, promise!


	5. Chapter 5

I'm sorry.

To all you who supported me in this little, dumb thing. Who praised it and pointed out the flaws, giving helpful criticism.

I had plans for this fanfic. I really did. I wanted an overarching plot and character development.

But then all of that just got lost in a myriad of other projects I wanted to finish, and my first writing career.

So Breathing Copper was left as a small, unfinished project, and that's most likely all it will be. I don't mind if any of you attempt to build off the discontinued the story or even attempt to complete it.

Again, thank you all so much for all the support.

And goodbye.


End file.
